Brandon Dimmel

Though it boasts the most impressive game library and some of the most successful franchises the industry has to offer, Microsoft has struggled to win the hearts of Asian gamers with its Xbox 360. Though North Americans swoon over Halo, Mass Effect, ... and the cars of Project Gotham Racing, few overseas players are all that interested in breaking ties with Sony or Nintendo. That's surely the reason Microsoft recently announced it would be slashing prices on its console across the Pacific. First reported by the Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by the Redmond-based powerhouse, Microsoft ... (view more)

Recently I reported on the intense buzz surrounding Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV. Netting some of the most impressive reviews ever seen in modern video gaming, GTA IV is not only being heralded as "the best Grand Theft Auto game yet," but ... perhaps the best title, well, ever. Too bad a few glitches might spoil the party. According to reports from Gamespot, both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers are filling forums with complaints that the game crashes frequently. In pinpointing the source of such complaints, Gamespot cited Xbox.com, official Sony boards, NeoGAF forums, and even its own ... (view more)

Long heralded as the most open-ended franchise in history (well, aside from those 100-plus hour Elder Scrolls games), Grand Theft Auto has received both acclaim and criticism for its violent nature. However, the most recent installment, Grand Theft ... Auto IV, is receiving reviews previously unheard-of in gaming. All in all, these kinds of scores make Halo 3 look like Superman N64 (uh, the worst-reviewed game in history). When it first launched shortly after the introduction of the PlayStation 2, there was little doubt Grand Theft Auto III had changed the way games were made. Granted, it wasn't ... (view more)

Nintendo's Wii recently hit the 25 million units sold mark, and there's no indication the little white console is about to slow down any day soon. At least, that's the reason Nintendo has announced it will not be reducing the price of its popular ... system. To some, the announcement is a surprise, given that most consoles knock at least a small percentage of their price tag off sometime around one year after launch. By comparison, Sony's PlayStation 3 reduced its price almost immediately, and the Microsoft Xbox 360 has seen its price slashed numerous times since its November 2005 release. ... (view more)

Still not sure that China has become a rising technological giant? Perhaps recent news that the Asian country has officially passed the United States in the number of online users will convince you otherwise. Granted, we've been aware of China's ... massive population for a very long time. The country boasts some 1.3 billion citizens, and although it struggled to establish an economy on par with the United States or Britain during the twentieth century, by the turn of the 21st it had clearly arrived amongst the world's economic (and military) super powers. For a good look at China's export ... (view more)

Wonder what it takes to win a high school world robotics competition? A St. Catherine's, Ontario, Canada team recently found out, awarded first prize for the construction of a robot capable of moving while aiming oversized balls at a target. The ... competition was held last weekend in Atlanta, Georgia and featured representation from an astounding eight countries totalling 344 teams (including a number of prominent U.S. high schools). However, it was the 25-member Canadian team from Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catherines that captured the judges and the crowd with its 'Simbotics' ... (view more)

It's bad enough when consumers opt for your last operating system over the new one. Worse still when an update to that new and not-so-hot OS is bricking USB devices. Microsoft recently admitted to the media that reports that a Windows Vista security ... update is disrupting USB devices are indeed accurate. Released last week, the Windows Defender update was intended to patch a critical hole in its spyware blocking program. While that may have been successful, Vista owners haven't been so pleased to find their mice and keyboards no longer function. In a statement, Microsoft admitted, "We are aware ... (view more)

We've all said it before, and this time I'll say it again -- if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's the phrase of the day for Microsoft, which appears to be developing its own 'Wiimote' for the Xbox 360. Thought it will undoubtedly raise the ire of ... Nintendo's ever-growing fanboy community, Microsoft's decision to launch a motion-sensitive controller with the likeness of the Wii's tiny remote makes perfect sense. Nintendo has long overtaken Microsoft in the console race, though the Xbox 360 still boasts an unmatched games library. Add some Wii to the equation -- ripped off or not -- and all ... (view more)

One of the most painful tech losses in the last year came to HD-DVD owners, the faithful few who purchased Toshiba or Microsoft hardware hoping the high-def evolution would at some point steer in their direction. Now, those folks can wipe their ... tears and get a few bucks for their trouble. For those HD-DVD owners who still haven't heard, you can expect the number of movies shipping for the format to completely cease soon. Toshiba gave up the ghost months ago, after major studios and retailers announced they were finally ready to back Blu-ray, which despite its higher cost sold both more movies ... (view more)

Think the web is getting any safer? According to some numbers, it just might be. Unfortunately, though the number of cyber fraud cases in the United States appears to have dropped since last year, the total dollar loss has actually increased, to a ... frightening $239 million. The numbers have been made available thanks to a recent Federal Bureau of Investigation annual report, which revealed that although the number of complains went down (to 207,000 from 207,500 in 2006 and 231,000 in 2005) the total hit to our wallets went up over $40 million from 2006. FBI special agent John Hambrick ... (view more)